To enable the Kayapó Indigenous people to continue to protect 11-million
hectares of their lands from deforestation, and to build the capacity of Kayapó NGOs to
manage surveillance/protection and sustainable economic activities.

Threats:

Kayapó lands are in a region of rapid deforestation — an agricultural
frontier with increasing road access and minimal law enforcement. Kayapó have fiercely protected their
vast territory but face increased pressure from illegal incursions for gold-mining, logging, commercial fishing,
ranching and other agriculture.

In just a few years, Kayapó NGOs have developed the capacity for managing complex programs.
Local capacity for long-term management and
protection has
developed well and will continue to evolve.

Sustainable and culturally compatible economic activities have been developed and these reduce the
temptation to accept cash for unsustainable activities. Brazil nut operations have been especially successful;
copaiba oil, cocoa and other enterprises are also being developed.

Background

Figure 1. The Xingu River Basin is shown as the lime green area (Brazil
turquoise).

The Xingu River, a major tributary of the Amazon in Brazil, begins in the semi-deciduous forests and
woodland-savannas of Mato Grosso state and flows north for 2,700 km across varying topography before ending
in the wet forests of the Amazon near Belem. The Xingu spans major tropical biomes from savanna (cerrado) in
the headwaters of the south to semi-deciduous and evergreen wet canopy forests of the southern, mid- and
northern regions. More than 20 linguistically differentiated indigenous cultures that hold millennia's worth of
ecological knowledge are found in the forests of the Xingu.

During the last four decades, the Xingu has been subject to increasingly intense deforestation as the
agricultural frontier inexorably expands north and west. An "arc of fire" constituting the highest rate of
deforestation in Brazil and indeed, one of the highest in the world, sweeps across the region. This process of
colonization and agricultural expansion, often accompanied by violent land conflict in the lawless frontier, follows
road construction, especially the perimetral framework of national highways.

With adequate roads and suitable soils, the Xingu has become an important centre for cattle production
(occupying the greatest tracts of land and by far the greatest driver of deforestation), logging (almost all illegal)
and production of soy bean for export. Dozens of towns have sprung up along roads to support frontier activities
and hundreds of thousands of people depend on the frontier economy.

While this tsunami of forest destruction threatens to engulf the region, an enormous 28.8-million-ha network
of protected areas (including both ratified indigenous territories and conservation areas) secures protection in law
of 56% of the Xingu basin. This protected areas corridor is the great hope for conservation of multi-landscape
scale tracts of southeastern Amazonian forest with all its magnificent richness of biodiversity, indigenous cultures
and ecosystem services. Indigenous lands of the Xingu are of particular importance because they occupy two
thirds of the protected areas corridor and possess de facto protection services — their indigenous inhabitants.
Over the past three decades, indigenous territories have proved formidable barriers to forest destruction (Figure
2; see also Nepstad et al., 2006. Inhibition of Amazon deforestation and fire by parks and Indigenous lands.
Conservation Biology, 20: 65-73; view as pdf).

Figure 2. Satellite image of Kayapó lands and most of the Xingu
Indigenous Park (to the south) showing plumes of smoke rising from burning of primary forest remnants outside
of the Indigenous Territories. Dark green areas are indigenous lands and light brown areas are ranch and
agricultural land.

However, outside pressure on Kayapó lands continues to increase. If borders are not well monitored in
this lawless region of weak governance: ranching, fraudulent land speculation, commercial fishing, logging and
gold-mining inevitably invade and encroach into protected areas. If they cannot gain clandestine entry, loggers
and goldminers will attempt to buy off individual Kayapó to obtain access to the rich timber stocks and
gold on their lands. Sometimes they are successful. Once a door is opened, it is hard for even the Kayapó
to control an influx. When they lack information and sustainable economic alternatives, indigenous peoples are
vulnerable to outside pressure to liquidate their resources.

Large infrastructure projects are an increasing threat to the region's remaining forest: i.e., Kayapó
land. The mining company Vale S/A operates a nickel mine near Tucuma. The mine has catalyzed immigration to
the region, increasing outside pressure on neighbouring Kayapó lands. At the same time, the third largest
hydro dam in the world, "Belo Monte" is under construction on the Xingu river some 600km upriver from
Kayapó lands in Para. To operate efficiently during the dry season, the turbines at Belo Monte will need
water released from upriver holding dams –projected for building in Kayapó lands. In the west, the newly
paved BR 163 highway from Cuiaba in the south to Santarem in the north has dramatically increased immigration
into the region with associated pressure for illegal predatory resource extraction (logging, goldmining) and
ranching on western Kayapó lands. Strengthening the capacity of Kayapó institutions to protect
their boundaries, and develop sustainable income alternatives becomes even more crucial in the face of
approaching large-scale industry.

Conservation significance of Kayapó lands

Kayapó lands conserve the last remaining large, intact block of native forest in the southeastern Amazon,
and maintain the connectivity of this ecoregion with the western Amazon. They confer incalculable benefits to
protection of biodiversity, mitigation of climate change and preservation of the crucial role of Amazonian forests in
producing rainfall over a much larger geographic scale.

Kayapó territories are large enough to protect large scale ecological processes. For example, very
large areas are required to maintain tropical tree species because individuals of species are usually very sparsely
distributed. Most tropical tree species depend on co-evolved animal vectors for pollination and seed dispersal
across large inter-individual distances - small areas do not contain enough individuals or viable animal vector
populations for regeneration over the long term. The intricate web of interdependence among Amazonian species
requires large areas for these ecosystems to function and persist.

Kayapó lands remain reasonably undisturbed. Large-bodied game species (including large cracids,
lowland tapir, and white-lipped peccary), which are preferred by local peoples throughout the Amazon, are
abundant within the hunting range of Kayapó communities. Protected lands in the region safeguard a full
complement of disturbance-sensitive wildlife and an entire vegetation transition from open savanna
(cerrado) to close-canopy forests, along with endangered and threatened species (Table 1).

Kayapó lands and the contiguous Xingu Indigenous Park to the south protect more than four hundred
kilometers of the Xingu river from degradation by deforestation, pollution and over-fishing. Preliminary surveys
indicate that as many as 1,500 fish species inhabit the Xingu River. Fish are the most important source of protein
for local people of the Xingu. Sixteen species of fish are considered endemic to (i.e. only found in) the Xingu.

Program Partners and Personnel

Our local partners are three Brazilian non-governmental organizations: the Associação Floresta Protegida
(AFP), Instituto Kabu (IK), and
Instituto Raoni (IR) that together represent
almost all of 50 Kayapó communities with a total population of about 8,000 people. AFP, IK and IR are
pillars of organization for the Kayapó, enabling them to implement programs of conservation and
development that strengthen their capacity for territorial control and protection. AFP is based in Tucuma, Para
state, and represents communities located east of the Xingu River. IK is based in Novo Progresso, Para, and
represents communities located to the north and west of Xingu River. IR, based in Colider, Mato Grosso state,
represents communities of the southeast (map of Kayapó territories with names of communities). The
Kayapó organizations also collaborate with the Brazilian government Indian agency (FUNAI) responsible for
upholding indigenous rights.

Within Brazil, Conservation International and the Brazilian Amazon Fund (Fundo Amazonia) have
established a US$6 million trust fund, the Fundo Kayapó. This fund makes annual grants to the
three Kayapó NGO's in support of their conservation and development goals. Internationally, we partner on
certain sub-programs of the Kayapó project with US-based Environmental Defense Fund. Finally, the
Kayapó NGO's themselves raise significant program funding from domestic sources; especially from
government mandated environmental compensation packages associated with road building, mining and the
hydro-electric industries. Therefore, ICFC support of high level functioning of Kayapó NGO administrations
leverages significant program support from other sources.

The protected lands of the Kayapó Indigenous Territories, outlined in
black.

Purpose

Government support for protected areas including indigenous lands in the southeast Amazon has been tenuous to
absent. Over the past fifteen years NGOs have played a crucial role in helping the Kayapó to continue to
protect their lands by enabling them to (i) monitor and control their boundaries, (ii) build local institutions that
function in outside society for accessing, administering and implementing conservation and development funding,
and (iii) develop sustainable business enterprises for communities. Our Kayapó program builds on these
three pillars of land protection by an indigenous people.

The goal of our Kayapó program is to preserve biodiversity in the southeastern Amazon Basin by
helping the Kayapó continue to control and protect their legally ratified lands. Key objectives of the
program are:

Develop a system of regular monitoring of border integrity and threats to Kayapó territories; and
provide equipment, fuel, supplies and training for surveillance;

Build administrative and managerial capacity of the Kayapó's NGOs in order that they may access and
implement outside support for conservation and development and defend indigenous rights in Brazilian society;

Build economic autonomy of all Kayapó communities by helping them to establish culturally adapted
and ecologically sustainable enterprises based on non-timber forest products.

The Kayapó village of Metuktire, seen from the air.

Actions and Results

Territorial surveillance and boundary demarcation

Territorial surveillance: ICFC and our US based partner EDF provide surveillance infrastructure to Kayapó
NGOs including boats, outboard engines, radios, 4X4 vehicles, expedition supplies, fuel, equipment maintenance
and also capacity building workshops. We enable Kayapó NGOs to perform overflight surveillance and
ground patrols with the result that several foci of illegal activity have been identified over the years: goldmining,
logging and encroachment by ranchers. Once identified, Kayapó expeditions remove the invaders. If the
problem persists or becomes too widespread such that helicopters and police are needed, Kayapó NGOs
pressure the federal government to enforce the law. This strategy has brought successful outcomes this year.

Surveillance was scaled up in 2013 and 2014 in response to a higher incidence of invasion. High gold prices
have intensified pressure on Kayapó lands and brought increased immigration to the region due to road
building and paving. Helicopter supported action by government authorities (FUNAI, Ministry of the Environment
and Federal Police) became necessary to neutralize the expanding problem of gold-mining (photos), with
Kayapó NGOs contributing supplies and personnel for these operations. In these major military style
government operations, the miners are first warned to leave the area. Those that do not, have their equipment
destroyed. (Paulao video and photos).
Illegal logging is also expanding on Kayapó lands, driven by high prices for export grade timber in concert
with an expanding frontier population,. Kayapó NGOs have mapped incursions using overflights and
ground patrols, and government operations in 2014 are focused on shutting these down

Burning chainsaws. Confiscation and destruction of equipment used in illegal logging and
mining is a strong deterrent.

Institution building

No longer are the traditional warrior tactics of their Kayapó forefathers sufficient for protecting indigenous
rights in the 21st century. The Kayapó must learn to protect their interests and rights in the legal context
of outside society. Their three NGOs play a central role in their future, hence the value of ICFC's support for
contributes to the management and administration of Kayapó organizations. High functioning
administrations have become adept at program development, program implementation and financial accounting,
so much so that Kayapó NGOs have been able to obtain the lion's share of program funding on their own.

An important source of program funding accessed by Kayapó NGOs is government mandated
environmental compensation packages for infrastructure and industrial development that have negative impacts
on indigenous lands. The AFP Kayapó of the northeast recently negotiated a multi-year deal with the Vale
Mining company to compensate for impacts of the nearby "Onça-Puma" nickel mine. Vale funding will mitigate
mine impacts by supporting the AFP's surveillance and sustainable economic development programs, as well as
initiatives to strengthen Kayapó cultural identity. The IK Kayapó in the west are completing the first
five years of a compensation package from the Department of Transportation for impacts of paving the Cuiaba to
Santarem BR-163 federal highway. Paving of this highway opened the floodgates to colonization and deforestation
along the western border protected by IK and this compensation is playing a crucial role in helping the
Kayapó to continue to defend their lands in the west. The IR will enter into negotiations with the state of
Mato Grosso to gain compensation for paving of a highway that will increase outside pressure on Kayapó
lands in the southeast. Negotiation of these significant grants for conservation and development depends on
professional level administration performed by the Kayapó NGOs.

Every year, ICFC supports meetings of Kayapó leaders in the Annual General Assemblies of their
organizations. At the AGMs, Kayapó leaders review the past year's work and accounts and approve
workplans and budgets for the upcoming year (insert photos and video of 2014 AGM AGM conclusion here).
Notably, in 2013 we supported all Kayapó leaders from across Kayapó lands to meet in Kokraimoro
village on the Xingu river. At Kokraimoro, in a traditional forum Kayapó leaders had the opportunity to
renew old bonds and develop a united position on the very serious threats looming on the horizon: proposed
changes to the Brazilian constitution that would allow industry on indigenous lands and the Belo Monte dam
complex.

Conclusion of the Kokraimoro leaders meeting on banks of the Xingu river June 5,
2014

Sustainable economic development

The Kayapó seek economic development in their communities to maintain their independence and so that
community members have cash to buy the manufactured items they have come to need. To help the
Kayapó gain economic autonomy while conserving the forest ecosystem on which their culture is based,
ICFC and other NGO partners support the development of non-timber forest product enterprises. To be successful,
these enterprises must be based on the existence of relatively stable markets for a product but also, importantly,
must fit with normative aboriginal values of equity, cooperation, and reciprocity achieved through consensus and
common-property access. All members of a community should have the opportunity to participate and earn money
from the venture.

Tree Seed Workshop

The Kayapó NGOs and their partners are successfully developing small sustainable businesses in
Kayapó communities:

Brazil nut: the best developed as far as sales and number of communities involved. With the help of their
NGOs, Kayapó from over 20 communities harvested and sold over $200,000 worth of Brazil nut to
domestic buyers in 2014

Cumaru seeds: like Brazil nut, the cumaru seed is produced by a primary forest tree species and is
harvested after it falls to the ground. Cumaru seeds are used by the cosmetics industry and enjoy a growing
market. About 20 communities are involved and this enterprise is expanding

Art and bead jewelry: growing markets for traditional Kayapó designs in beadwork; especially
bracelets and necklaces but also other items such as t-shirts and baskets. There are sales outlets in Rio de Janeiro
(Tucum), Canada (Kayapó project), internet (IK) and the local frontier towns of Novo Progresso and
Tucuma, where Kayapó NGO offices are based. Many communities are involved.

Field station and international field course: the pioneer conservation and development project with the
Kayapó founded in 1992 by Dr. Barbara Zimmerman and the community of A'Ukre. The success of this
venture led to expanded NGO support for the Kayapó and impact across all Kayapó lands beginning
in 2000. Today, the A'Ukre field station hosts two annual international field courses (University of Maryland and U
of Brasilia; Purdue University and U of Uberlandia) that are an important source of equitable income for the
community.

Sportfishing and ecotourism: the pristine Iriri river protected within Kayapó lands teems with game
fish and is ideal for sport fishing. The community of Kendjam is prepared to host and guide a sportfishing camp
managed by the company "Untamed Angling". This pilot project has been authorized by the federal Indian agency
FUNAI and embodies another important sustainable development option for Kayapó in the future.

Several other non-timber product options also hold promise and are in earlier stages of development including:
jamborandi leaves, copaiba oil, babacu oil, cocoa, native tree species seeds and manioc flour (farinha).